Crumbling Walls
by lewdness
Summary: [RikuSora, LeonRiku] And for once in his life, it’s okay because in the world of little broken hearts, minds, people, places and things, Riku feels like he fits in. [oneshot, post KH2]


Title: Crumbling Walls  
Rating: M  
Pairings, if any: Sora&Riku, Riku&Leon  
Summary: And for once in his life, it's okay because in the world of little broken hearts, minds, people, places and things, Riku feels like he fits in.  
Word Count: 2240  
Warnings: Mentions of the boys in bed  
KH1, CoM, KH2 Or other fandom  
_A/N…_This is weird. Like, totally not my style, trying something new, got some new drugs from the sparkly unicorn under my bed, kind of weird.

Once more, am messing with Kairi's character. I want it known that I love Kairi's character hardcore, so don't think that the way she is in this fic is the way she is in everything I write. :\

--

They live in an era of Darkness. Leon knows that, he knows what it looks like, knows what it has done—what it can do. Riku… Riku knows everything about it, he knows what it can do, knows what it has done because he's felt it, he's _been_ it and it's stayed with him.

--

Kairi and Sora, the Princess and the Keyblade Master, both of them know without looking that he's still got a piece of it inside him. They know; Kairi touches him on the shoulder sometimes—never his bare skin, never ever, ever, _ever_, because the Darkness on him makes her own skin burn.

Sora touches him, bare skin to bare skin, touches him and helps push off clothes, helps unbutton and unclasp and then presses lips to flesh all hot and wet and _real_. Riku reaches back, fingers over taunt, tan skin, and when the time comes, he holds the younger boy close and trembles and for once doesn't feel weak.

But all good things come to an end; Riku knows this fact of life well and has experienced it countless times. Things stopped being good for him after they first started talking of building a ship; or maybe, things stopped being good when he whispered to Sora that there had to be something more out there, something past their little islands of beautiful white sand, and perfect, perfect things. Truly good things were rare now.

It was nice, sometimes, when Sora leaned up and pressed his lips to Riku's all gentle-soft, pushing shaggy bangs out of the way and curling up against him like nothing's wrong, like he can't feel the Darkness that Riku wears as if it were a second skin. Maybe…maybe he can't. Riku doesn't want to know.

Eventually, he grows tired. Everything's the same; the islands feel as if they are getting smaller and smaller; the people give him those accusing _looks_ that say they know what he's done even though no one has breathed a sigh about it. Kairi still smiles at him, that hesitant little smile and she still touches him on his shoulder but never, never skin and he's okay with that now, because she's a Princess and he's had his fill of hurting people.

Sora with his spiky brown hair and bright blue eyes that reveal he knows too much, has seen too much.

It's a night when Sora's room is too hot (they never do anything in Riku's room; his parents are too close and it's just not worth the questions that might be asked) and so the windows are wide open. Distantly, they both can hear the rustle of palm tree leaves on palm tree leaves and the lapping of water at the sand. Riku's still and silent, lying on his back with Sora's head on his shoulder, Sora's fingers on his side, Sora's lips on his skin and he hears the boy speak something other than the needy moans of RikuRiku_Riku_ that he had before. "You're not happy," he breathes, looking up and smiling with an odd little twitch of lips; a fake smile but somehow Riku appreciates the effort that goes into it at the very least. "Why are you here?"

The question isn't meant in a hurtful way, but it's to make Riku _think_ and he finds that he doesn't quite know the answer.

Because he wants to be isn't even close. Because it's where he grew up? No. "Because it's home," Riku sighs into Sora's mouth when the younger teen leans up and presses his lips to Riku's.

"No. It's not," Sora replies with that funny little half-smile that's like a cup that's about to fall over and spill its contents or settle back into place until it's bumped again. "This isn't home for you; it never was."

Distantly, Riku's a little glad that he doesn't have to explain anything to the brunet and then he's even gladder when a week later when he and Sora are standing at the gates of Radiant Garden and he's meeting everyone there.

A week after that finds him silently taking the shovel thrust at him by the taciturn brunet, a thin, sleeveless shirt on his back, and his hair tied up messily as he works on shoveling things out to make a new wall that will replace the one that was half-gone.

The week after that finds him taking a large gulp of water, pushing back sweat-damp bangs and lifting more stones to go on the wall that's almost halfway done. Leon gives his work an appraising look and then keeps going forward to whatever task he was doing.

The week after that he is pushing a few more solid rocks into place and jumping as someone touches his (bare) arm gently. Riku turns around, half expecting to find Sora there and instead finds the slender brunette woman with bright green eyes and a warm smile on her lips. "You've been working all morning, Riku," she says and then pushes his hands away from the shovel long enough for her to lean it against a wall. A moment later, she tangles her fingers with his and pulls him toward the tippy, unstable house of Merlin.

His mouth works, open, close, open… and he keeps expecting her to pull away at any moment and give him a look of disgust at feeling the Darkness still on him. She…she doesn't. Aerith just keeps pulling him until they reach a table where there's watermelon, drinks and sandwiches of varying size and type all waiting for them. Yuffie is munching on one of them, not bothering to sit at the table like Cid was, but instead she was propped up on a pile of stones with a stack of sandwiches on her knees. Cid has only one sandwich in front of him, but a cup of tea big enough that Riku was sure he wouldn't be hungry_ or_ thirsty for the rest of the day.

Merlin was nowhere to be seen yet, which left the last member of their ragtag little party. Leon hadn't said more than a handful of words to Riku in the few weeks that he'd been at Radiant Garden. Every morning he would wake up to see Aerith washing out the same blue cup and brown plate, with his own plate already sitting out on the quaint little table. They were like clockwork, simple, efficient and wonderfully predictable in a way. Leon and Aerith always rose first. Leon would take care of whatever Aerith needed at the time, and she would prepare breakfast. Riku followed a half-hour later and exchange idle chit-chat with the kind woman. Merlin and Cid would be up next- the latter of which was always made two extra of whatever they were having along with a large cup of tea.

The first time that Riku had seen it, he'd been confused. Cid had griped and grumbled up until Yuffie had wandered out, her hair sticking up and messy from sleep. She knew what Riku had learned instantly upon meeting Cid; never touch his tea.

If Aerith was busy doing something else, the black-haired teen would wander over to the next target- Riku. With little warning or apology, she swooped up his cup of milk, took a drink, ruffled his hair and then made her way over to accept the plate of pancakes Aerith offered her.

Vaguely on the first morning, he was surprised at the small amount she ate in the mornings; even Kairi had eaten more than that. The ninja finished off her small portion in a few minutes, while silence lingered about the table as Aerith finished making the last plate of pancakes and sat down herself. Awkwardly, Riku wondered if he should ask if she wanted what was left of his but Cid beat him to it. The grizzly older man opened one eye and elbowed the teen in the side. "'ere," he said, sliding his plate over and Yuffie grinned up at him.

--

"You're a better door than a window," a low voice said, accompanied by a slight nudge.

Startled out of his thoughts, Riku looked up and met cool blue-gray eyes. "…What?"

Leon sent him a dry look and moved around him, tossing an, "It means move," over his shoulder.

_Ah._

A few days after that, Riku found that he was unable to sleep in as late as he normally did. Glancing out his half-open window, he realized that it wasn't even dawn yet, which meant that no one else was even thinking of getting up yet. The thought wasn't as bad as it sounded; it actually gave him time to do something that he'd meant to do a while back and never really had the chance to do.

Throwing on a simple hooded sweatshirt over his normal shirt, he headed out of his bedroom and to the kitchen, fully expecting it to be empty. Instead, a sleep-tousled Leon is standing in front of the stove, a kettle of tea steaming gently on a back burner, a bowl of eggs beside it, along with what Riku knew to be the other ingredients to make pancakes. "Oh."

Leon didn't even bat an eye at finding the younger man there; instead, he jerked his head back to the icebox that Merlin had charmed to keep their supplies from going bad when the days are warm. "Grab the milk and the plates."

It wasn't exactly a gesture of friendship, but nonetheless, Riku felt a vague smile tipping his lips up the slightest bit as he fetched the items.

Thirty-seven days after Riku left the Islands, he sees two faces that surprise him. Sora, he'd seen on multiple occasions throughout the month he'd been at Radiant Garden. Kairi, however, he didn't think that he'd ever see this soon.

Their visit is light and happy, the girls getting along well and Sora exchanging more stories with Leon and showing little magic tricks to the old wizard. Cid doesn't say much of anything; he grunts to the brunet teen, ruffles his hair, and then goes to 'check out the damn ship' to make sure that nothing's happened to it while Sora was behind the helm.

When it's nearly nightfall, Sora says that they were simply coming to say hello- there was work to be done back on the Islands and they couldn't stay away for a whole day. Goodbyes are exchanged; Sora hugs the taller boy tightly and whispers, "You look happy," in Riku's ear.

Kairi smiles at him hesitantly and makes no move to hug him; she touches his wrist (not his bare left one, his right one that has a simple band of leather around it) fleetingly and then follows Sora.

Riku can't find it in him to be disappointed as Aerith draws him away and begins to talk about something.

Twelve days after that when Riku is working on a new task, Leon silently comes over and begins to help.

The next morning, Riku finds that he and Leon are up early again and it goes unsaid from then on that there is a ritual of making breakfast that day every month. Slowly, bit by bit every day that follows, Riku slips more and more into the comfortable system that goes with living in Radiant Garden.

Just shy of a week after this, Riku quietly comments that he doesn't think Leon likes him too much. Aerith sends him the strangest look he'd seen on her face as of yet, and then simply laughs at him, cheeks pink with mirth. "You're an idiot," she giggles, tapping him on the nose. "Pass me the large bowl on your left."

Leon acts the same as he always does that day, for the most part. Sometime during the evening, Riku leaned against the wall, his eyes closed as he allowed himself to relax for at least a short time. The evening air is blessedly cool so working outside isn't as bad as it might have been but he can't quite hide the shock that comes when Leon is suddenly standing in front of him. They're almost the same height, he notices distantly, and he can't quite tell if Leon's eyes are blue or gray. It's then that all the little details he'd noticed throughout his time in Radiant Garden come to the forefront of his mind and make themselves known.

Riku doesn't quite know how it happened now that he looks back on it. Never in all of his life would he have thought he would end up anywhere other than the Islands, and not once did a sarcastic, blue-gray eyed brunet man ("Squall. Things are almost back to normal. It's Squall.") factor in to what Riku had considered what his life after that would be. Not that he's objecting, of course, but still…

Instead of SoraSora_S-Sora_, it's Squall_ohgods_Squall and hot lips meet his, harsh and rough and it's exactly what Riku wants because it's nothing like perfect. It's not perfect here, not in the slightest. The town is demolished but rebuilding slowly, the people are skittish and mistrustful, there is always work to be done. And Leon (Squall), Riku thinks, is just as broken as himself and the crumbling stone walls around them.

And for once in his life, it's okay because in the world of little broken hearts, minds, people, places and things, Riku feels like he fits in.

--

Once more trying stuff with a different sort of style. Have been sitting on this for a while and I'm actually glad to get this out there. If you feel the desire to do so, I'd love it if you left a review-we can call it a gift for Single's Awareness D-….Valentine's Day!

Posted in my writing LJ too; check it out if you like!


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